Not unlike the views I shared about rush fees, today’s topic is likely to tick some people off.

A question came up in a discussion forum about whether designers should give clients their source files. For example, you do the layout of a magalog. The client approves it and you send it to the printer for printing. Then, the client asks for the files used to create the magalog. That might be your InDesign or Quark files, and any Photoshop or Illustrator files.

What do you say to that request?

Surprisingly, to me at least, some designers say no. I’ve tried to figure out why they say no, but I have yet to come up with anything other than fear.

Even worse, they use this “logic” as justification: Does a restaurant give you their recipes just because you bought the meals?

This has got to be one of the most baffling reasonings I’ve ever heard. Here’s a little secret for designers… you’re not a restaurant. You’re not a mechanic either. Or a bank teller. You’re a designer. So don’t buy into this notion that what is done in some other occupation is what you’re required to do.

If you’re going to compare yourself with another occupation, you’re obligated to take it all the way. Do you only offer some design services at certain times of the day like restaurants that have different menus for lunch and dinner? Do you offer Happy Hour pricing for your services if people hire you between at certain hours of the day?

Honestly, I think any excuse for not handing over your source files to a client is, bottom line, fear. Fear that the client will take those files and use them to do future jobs without you based on your work. Fear that they’ll take those files and mess something up.

One of the joys of freelancing is not having to work with people again if they do things you don’t like. So if they take your source files and mess things up before it gets to the printer, don’t work with them again or have a clear understanding that source files are just for their archiving purposes, not to make changes.

Even worse than the “no source file” policy is when designers actually hand over the files if the client pays more to get them. So much for standing by your beliefs that source files are sacred.

Let me give you some reasons that I think you should be willing to hand over your source files.

1. With some jobs, you’ll have to give the source files to the printer. You can’t always just provide a PDF. At that point, if you’ve given the files to the printer, what is your justification for not giving them to the person who paid you to create them? Plus, your client could just get the source files directly from the printer if you’re not going to provide them.

2. There are times when the client wants you to do about 98% of the work with the rest being handled internally. Are you going to turn down jobs like that? I’ve worked on a number of projects, totaling thousands of dollars, where I’m doing the majority of work with some details handled later by an in-house design team. Wouldn’t it be silly of me to refuse to hand over the files? And it’s not a valid argument to say that it’s a different situation if you’re hired to only do part of the work.

3. I’ve worked on many projects where the original designer is no longer available or has lost the files, yet the project needs to be updated. If I don’t have the source files, I have to start from scratch. If you were in that position, wouldn’t you hope that the original designer had made the files available to the client?

4. Sometimes, last minute changes need to be made to the layout once you’ve sent them off. This happens frequently in the financial arena. You’ve done the work for some project where the numbers being quoted in the copy are time-sensitive. Right before printing, the numbers need to be changed. These changes may need to be changed by the printer or the client. How often do you think the client is going to want to work with you if you have a “no source file” policy?

5. Your time is valuable. Let’s say you do the layout of a book. A year or so later, the book needs to be reprinted with a different printer. Wouldn’t it be nice if the client could forward those files to the printer instead of contacting you, making you stop whatever projects you’re working on, dig up those files and get them sent off. A surprising amount of time can be spent revisiting past projects. (A topic I hope to tackle here on the blog in the future.)

Now there is at least one area to be aware of when it comes to handing over source files: font copyrights.

It’s generally accepted that you can send the fonts with source files to a printer. It’s not so clear-cut when it comes to sending those fonts to a client. So if you’re going to provide source files, you’ll either need to exclude the fonts, or make sure the client has the fonts you used on their own computers. You might even buy the fonts for the client and add that to the cost of the project. If there are other parts of the project that are copyrighted by a third-party, don’t ignore those copyrights.

If you’re going to have a “no source file” policy, fine. Just do yourself a favor and have a legitimate reason to give the client if they ask for the files. Please don’t embarrass yourself by responding, “Do restaurants give you the recipe just because you bought the meal?” That kind of answer appears to make sense on the surface until you dig a bit deeper and realize that the two situations aren’t the same in any way.

And if you have a reason for not providing source files that don’t translate into fear, e-mail me. I’d be happy to include your thoughts in a future article here.

My very first computer was an Apple 2e (or ][e for those of you old enough to remember they way they wrote it out back then.) But over time, I moved over to a PC and eventually ended up working for what some people humorously refer to as The Evil Empire. (That would be Microsoft.)

As a designer, I work on both a Mac and PC, with the PC being my primary platform. Until now. As the years have gone on, I’ve grown weary of battling Windows for control of my computer. And I have a high tolerance since I’m a bit more familiar with making Windows run smoothly than the aveage user.

But as I’ve had a Mac and PC running side-by-side on my desk, I’ve noticed something: The Mac works better. There are some aspects that I don’t think are as good as a Windows machine, but those reasons are dwindling.

So, this weekend, I started migrating my files over to the Mac, including my mail. I’ve still got some projects I started on my PC that I want to finish there, but I think I’ll be starting all new projects on the Mac.

Now, I’m not telling you this just to share my personal life. There’s a design aspect you should be aware of.

When it comes to software, the main tools of the design trade (InDesign, Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc.) all work on both PC’s and Mac’s. And in most cases, a client doesn’t care if you’re using a PC or Mac.

But…

I’ve never had a client require a project be done on a PC, but I have had the requirement a few times that it be done on a Mac. If you’re a PC user, don’t worry. There’s still plenty of work for if you’re only using a PC. But if you’re at that stage where you can go either way, go Mac.

This is just my own experience, plus a little inside knowledge from my time as a Windows tester at Microsoft, but the Mac operating system is more stable than Windows, and it doesn’t even matter which version of Windows you want to talk about.

I’m not saying OS X (the current Mac operating system) is perfect. I am saying that, by and large, it has fewer problems and will get in your way less often.

There are some downsides to using a Mac, so in fairness I’ll raise those issues.

First, if you depend on Office like I do, the current Mac version of Office is inferior to any of the recent PC versions, especially when it comes to Entourage (the Mac version of Outlook.) While a new version of Office for the Mac is due later this year, based on a few things I’m reading, I’m not entirely confident of what we’ll get or if it will be vastly improved. I hope I’m proven wrong on that.

Second, I always advocate a back-up system in case your main system dies. PC’s are so low in price I wouldn’t be surprised to see them given away in cereal boxes if they could fit. But Mac’s are another story. They’re pricey and not something you can find easily at Costco or some discount computer store.

If you’re running your business off a Mac and it dies, how easily can you get it replaced and be up and running again? A lot of people who use PC’s actually have more than one in the house, so temporarily moving to another PC if your main one dies isn’t as big a deal.

So those are a couple of potential downsides to be aware of. I’m sure there are more. But for me, I’ve had it. I’ve been battling Windows since version 3.1. I’ve served my time. The main design software I use runs just as easily (if not better) on a Mac than it does a PC, so there’s nothing holding me to Windows except old habits. I’ll still have a PC on hand for projects that require it and for non-business software that is PC only. (And, no, I don’t intend to run Windows on my Intel Mac.)

So the next time you read a post here from me, it will have been written on a Mac and I will have cast aside the daily shackles of Windows!! (Ok, that’s no big deal and it won’t make any difference to you in how you read this blog. I was just trying to end on a dramatic note because this is a really geeky topic to be discussing.)

The Christmas/New Years holiday allowed me to get caught up on some podcasts that I had fallen behind on. And in one case, it allowed me the chance to watch all the podcasts of one title I had mentioned here, but never had the time to watch. (It was put on the back burner during my recent move.)

WOW! Was I ever missing out by not watching it sooner.

The podcast is The InDesigner .

Again, allow me to say WOW!

As you might guess from the title, the podcast is about Adobe InDesign. The first few episodes were audio-only, but it’s now video and what a difference it makes.

Unless you consider yourself an InDesign expert, you’re going to learn something. And unlike some of the Photoshop podcasts I subscribe to (which are excellent) each InDesigner episode is going to give you something that you’ll probably be able to put into use immediately.

Host Michael Murphy is an Adobe InDesign Certified Expert and works as a designer for a what I’m guessing is a trade magazine. When you see samples of his work that he uses to illustrate InDesign techniques, you’re going to understand just how amazing InDesign can be.

I subscribe to about eight design-related podcasts, all of them valuable and full of stuff I can use in my business. But The InDesigner is the only one of these podcasts that I actually save on my computer so I can refer back to it if I have to. (Some of this stuff is easy to forget unless you use it everyday.)

The podcast is free, so if you’re an InDesign user and not subscribed to it, you’re flat out missing the boat. Get yourself started on the right foot this year, download all the “back issues” and then keep up with the new ones.

I tried finding a podcast related to Quark since I do have to use that software from time to time, but came up empty. If you know of something, let me know.

This post took an unexpected turn. I was going to recommend you get serious about your goals for the new year by pointing you to a book that was a big help to me when I started freelancing.

I mentioned the book in my own book, I Still Can’t Draw Good Stick Figures.

The book that was such a big help was Goals! by Brian Tracy.

I was going to add that to my Recommended List with a link to Amazon as I do for the other books I recommend.

After a few clicks, I had this. So that’s my list of recommended books in a variety of categories. I own every book listed there in the main window. Actually, I own far more books than that, but the ones you see on that site are the only ones I recommend to other people. (The books listed under Similar Items are not necessarily ones I own, but based on purchasing habits, Amazon includes those as possible books you might be interested in.)

On a totally different note, I’m working on a client project that requires me to use QuarkXPress 7. While I prefer InDesign, there are times when a client or project requires Quark. After using Quark 7 for a while, I still think InDesign is a superior layout tool, but I’ll give Quark credit…they actually included two printed books in the package.

One book is just a quick look at the new additions to version 7. But the other book is a 400+ page guide to using Quark. That’s a big deal. Those of you who have been around for a while remember the days when you actually got a printed manual with your software…especially software that you’re shelling out a lot of money for.

But to save costs, software makers either started putting together PDF books or created a separate user manual that you could buy.

For me, it was just nice to see a company put together a thick manual to go along with their software.

Talk to you in the new year!